Short answer
Contact the lender before the due date. Many agree to a payment holiday or an instalment plan if you get in touch in time, and before the case goes to debt collection it costs you almost nothing. After debt collection and an order to pay it gets expensive, and a payment remark stays for three years.
How debt counselling works
First a reminder, often with a SEK 60 fee. Then a debt collection demand, with a SEK 180 fee. If that is not paid, the case goes to Kronofogden as an order to pay (betalningsföreläggande), with a SEK 300 application fee plus legal costs. If you do not dispute it in time, a ruling is issued, and that is where the payment remark arises.
The chain normally takes several months. So there is time to act, and every earlier step is cheaper than the next.
- Reminder: call the lender and ask for a payment holiday
- Debt collection demand: ask for an instalment plan in writing
- Order to pay (betalningsföreläggande): dispute it within the deadline if the claim is wrong
- Ruling: the payment remark is registered and stays for three years
What you can do
Call, do not just email. Lenders have case handlers with the authority to set up plans, and they would rather do that than collect through Kronofogden. Ask specifically for a one-month payment holiday or for a longer instalment plan, and ask to get it in writing.
Do not take a new loan to pay an old one unless it also lowers the rate. Moving a debt to a more expensive quick loan usually makes the debt bigger.
The municipal help is free
Every municipality has a budget and debt adviser. The service is free, the adviser is bound by confidentiality and helps you contact lenders, apply for debt relief (skuldsanering) and set up a plan. The adviser does not collect debts and works for you.
Find yours through Hallå konsument or your municipality's switchboard. Do not wait until it is acute.
